Provide metrics on member help desk case activity

[cdc]

@david-shearer,

Recommend providing metrics on the help desk to all members:

# of open support cases

# of closed support cases by a time interval (monthly, weekly)

average time to respond the first time to a support case

average time to resolve a support case

Other ideas?

[dcontesti]

Thank you for clarifying this Graham

Sent from my iPhone

[Shannon]

I was initially confused, and then concerned, but now there's some clarity. Thanks @GJackson 

[gthompson]

To be clear - and I think Graham already covered this - The CEO is the Board's employee. I think you mis-understood what the chair said. The board is his boss. Regarding board compensation - there is no compensation. Board members are unpaid volunteers who serve the organization and its members. We do this on our own time. Board work is often done after hours an on weekends and we take time away from our families, often using vacation time to attend board meetings. 

People are tagging me in their comments, but I'm unclear exactly what it is you want. I'm happy to do what I can to elevate focus on member concerns, but I can assure you that management is keenly aware of the issues and are working diligently to resolve them.

[cdc]

Since passing the CISSP test back in 2005, every interaction with member support has been a nightmare.  When I endorsed another CISSP's form, I had to apologize in advance and lower his expectations about how fast it would be processed and what sort of communication would occur with ISC2.

It's nice that "management" is aware.  Tell everyone what is going on.  What happened? Why we have had so many problems, and explain the long term fixes.  We receive many emails during the week about upcoming security congress events but never any the matters that impact everyone daily. 

Provide metrics to members:  average time to receive a response, average time until a ticket is closed, or whatever is deemed by "management" to reduce member anxiety and frustration.

Yes, there was an upgrade of old systems.  We have all had to plan for, implement, and take care of unexpected problems.  I have seen people fired for having made less mistakes in implementation than this debacle.

If you don't want to be tagged, then remove yourself from the forum and the board.  We don't have any other means to communicate with the powers that be so put yourself in our position and ask yourself, what can I do to make the members interaction with ISC2 better..

[gthompson]

It's not that I don't want to be tagged, I just wanted to know what the ask is!

I take my board role seriously and want to ensure management hears from members (like me). This is happening!! This community portal is working! We have had direct conversations about member issues (based on feedback received here) with management and we have commitments regarding their plan to address.

I'm not sure what benefit there would be with having some public debate over performance metrics - bottom line is that members are unhappy with the service - then we need to ensure it gets addressed. 

I don't have to put myself in members' shoes - I have been in a member's shoes since 2001 - I also have to interact as a member with (ISC)2.

BTW, It's not fun for board members to reach out here to try to help only to be told to remove ourself from the community and the board. This kind of discourse is disappointing and I hope we can collectively focus on constructive communication so that we can actually improve things for our global membership. 

Here to help:

Greg Thompson

[dcontesti]

---

@gthompson wrote:

To be clear - and I think Graham already covered this - The CEO is the Board's employee. I think you mis-understood what the chair said. The board is his boss. Regarding board compensation - there is no compensation. Board members are unpaid volunteers who serve the organization and its members. We do this on our own time. Board work is often done after hours an on weekends and we take time away from our families, often using vacation time to attend board meetings. 

People are tagging me in their comments, but I'm unclear exactly what it is you want. I'm happy to do what I can to elevate focus on member concerns, but I can assure you that management is keenly aware of the issues and are working diligently to resolve them.

---

Thanks for you note Greg, it is appreciated.  Graham did clear the confusion around the Board's only employee.  Again thank you Graham..

I tagged yourself and Ms. Minella as you are typically not active on this forum or like me (on the CISSPForum), you may be a lurker.

You were initially tagged as there was a call for the membership to receive Metrics which I did not think would benefit anyone, it could provide additional work for management and could be counter-productive.  As yourself and Ms. Minella are the co-chair and Chair of the board (respectively), we wanted to highlight an ongoing issue that the membership is feeling and is annoying to say the least.  

This community is riddled with comments about the lack of support, the unanswered calls, the sitting on the phone for hours, the long turn around times on endorsement waits, etc.

The board who control the organization's only employee needs to hear the level of frustration there is in the membership and before I get jumped on by others, yes I know the board is Strategic, but how can the board continue to manage that one employee adequately if he/she is not managing his staff in an appropriate fashion.

Regards

Diana

PS: I agree that being on the board is a thankless job as board members do give up a lot of personal time working weekends and holidays. and for that, I thank them.  

[cdc]

Greg,

I noticed as I logged in that someone else has posted having problems with the portal, so there is still work to be done.

I don’t want to hear whining from the people who are entrusted with representing our issues with ISC2. The reason that you and others have been tagged is because of your position and the communication has not been sufficient to alleviate the issues. In fact, your response convinced me even more that the problems will continue for a while.

Bad news doesn’t become good with age and shooting the messenger leads to problems being ignored ever more.

Calculating the average response time could be done with a SQL query so don’t exaggerate the burden that coming up with the numbers would be. What is a constructive alternative?

Our rural emergency room has a sign on the Interstate that provides the current wait time for patients. I want to know how burdened the staff is and how many are working to fix the situation. I want know the wait times so I can plan my schedule accordingly. If it is week, then I’ll know to follow up in a week and not be concerned.

I hope that others air their frustrations because they need to be heard.

[Shannon]

---

@gthompson wrote:

We have had direct conversations about member issues (based on feedback received here) with management and we have commitments regarding their plan to address.

I'm not sure what benefit there would be with having some public debate over performance metrics - bottom line is that members are unhappy with the service - then we need to ensure it gets addressed. 

---

@gthompson, we're all aware of the fact that the (ISC)2 is striving to improve support --- or at least get it close to what it should be --- but the inadequacy is directly / indirectly impacting all members, hence the frustration...

Metrics provided here won't serve to improve support, but help members see improvements; for now all we can go by is our own experiences and the posts of others here. (The latter may not be accurate, given that members are more likely to ask for support & complain about it, than provide good reviews.)

Looking at others swaying and stumbling due to the lack of support, it's NOT easy to take a leap of faith.

(BTW, I'm not pointing fingers; you would have been tagged to ensure that we're being heard)

[rslade]

> Shannon (Community Champion) posted a new reply in Member Support on 08-13-2019

> Metrics provided here won't serve to improve support, but help members see
> improvements; for now all we can go by is our own experiences and the posts of
> others here.

Metrics would also allow people to see the scope of problems, which can have an
impact on what to do in the meantime. For example, the one metric
inadvertantly released by our CEO demonstrates that the support problem is far
larger than could be expressed by mere anecdotal reports, and that those who, for
example, require proof of their certified status (say, for employment) need to take
extraordinary efforts to get that proof.

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[gthompson]

Diana, not a “lurker”. I just have a demanding day job and family life that makes it hard to stay on top of community posts. I want to focus on constructive feedback, and things we can actually achieve. I’m a member who is actively trying to help.